It’s Lenny Bruce’s birthday today, I just discovered. I watched this clip, and it made me think again about just how bizarre the late fifties and early sixties were.

I recently rewatched Rebel Without a Cause and had a similar feeling. Everything feels so random and out of joint. Nicholas Ray, in particular, does marvelous things with the camera being weirdly tilted to give you that feeling of leaning too far over a railing.

Anyway, I thought that Lenny Bruce’s strange singing and rhyming and riffing was worth sharing. I’ve been feeling a little dark lately myself.